The Lisa Project

NEWSROOM NOTE: This article is also in the California News topic. It would seem that this program will eventually expand beyond the Golden Bear State.

The Lisa Project: Experience life through the eyes of an abused child

Going beyond headlines and statistics

October 08, 2010 4:44 PM

VISALIA — Powerful, heart-wrenching and at times, hard to watch — that is what The Lisa Project — a multi-media program that allows visitors to experience the life of abuse from a child’s perspective, is.“Everything you thought you knew about child abuse is about to change,” the self-guided audio tells people going through the exhibit.

“I’m going to tell you of a world that is foreign to you, but very familiar to me,” the presentation begins as Lisa, the narrator, shares her story and the story of other abused children.

The unique mobile project, designed to raise the community’s awareness of child abuse, is presented by the Tulare County Child Abuse Prevention Council through the month of October.

Through audio narration, and told through a child’s perspective, visitors are guided from room to room with scenarios depicting abuse. The PG-13 exhibit is not meant to shock visitors but is intended to educate the community about the very real threat to children, said marketing chair Patricia Pullen of Synchrony of Visalia, a nonprofit mental health agency that also provides parent education.

“This is an incredible way to educate the community about the different forms of child abuse,” Pullen said. “Abuse is not just physical, but can be emotional abuse, sexual abuse and neglect — which is the No. 1 aspect in Tulare County. Neglect in Tulare County is most prominent.”

During the 25-minute tour, visitors are guided through several rooms and hear the stories of five children — Lisa, Evan, Michael, Maria and Ashley.

The stories began with the playing of a 9-1-1 call from 6-year-old Lisa, who is crying and asking for help. Her step-father is hitting her mother, who is bleeding. Her sister, 4, lays listless and the girl pleads for help to stop her step-father from taking her newborn baby brother.

Lisa then guides listeners through several rooms — each one focusing on a different child and what that child lives through — mental abuse, neglect, sexual abuse and physical abuse.

In Michael’s case, the fifth-grader is portrayed as being emotionally abused by his mother as she repeatedly tells him he is useless and that she wishes she had aborted him.

And so the stories continue. Maria’s story deals with sexual abuse by her father. Ashley’s story is about physical abuse. And Evan’s story is about neglect. Along the way, the children’s abused, neglected and frightened faces are shown.The rooms range from a filthy kitchen where Evan sleeps on the floor and cries himself to sleep from hunger every night because his drug-addicted mother does not take care of him, to Ashley’s room filled with beautiful things — a vanity filled with perfumes and makeup, an iPod, a cell phone, beautiful gowns, shopping bags from Macy’s and designer purses. Photos on the wall show a beautiful Ashley, wearing her cheerleader outfit, riding a horse, and vacationing in Hawaii. But there is an unseen story — and Ashley shares it. She is physically abused, by her father, and her boyfriend.

“The truth is, I’d do anything to get out of this house,” Ashley says on the audio presentation.The stories and statistics are not made up.

“This is real,” it says on the walls of the statistics’ room. “In 2009, more than 9,000 calls were made to child welfare services alleging abuse.”

As visitors enter the statistics room, they can take a few minutes to read some of the devastating figures about child abuse, said Billie Shawl, president of the Tulare County Child Abuse Prevention Council.

“Our goal is to get as many people as we can to see this,” Shawl said. “But we also give people a chance to have a positive response. We have it hopeful.”

Abuse is suffered by children of all ages, socio-economic backgrounds and from all cultures.“It’s everyone’s responsibility to do something,” Pullen said. “We all can do something to protect them. We can volunteer at school, read a book to a child, and watch at a grocery store. And if you see someone having a hard time, don’t judge. Go up to them and ask the parent if you can help. You’re not there criticizing. You’re there offering a solution.”Before visitors leave the exhibit, they are asked to take a few minutes to share their thoughts and reflect on what they have just experienced. Counselors are also on hand to answer questions and talk to visitors if the exhibit triggers unpleasant childhood memories.

With 198 volunteers from 20 different agencies, organizers want people to know that resources exist and can help families and children who are suffering, Shawl said.

The Lisa Project was created by Lindy Turner-Hardin, executive director of the San Joaquin County Child Abuse Prevention Council, with help from her husband, Gene Hardin.

After visiting a King Tut exhibit in San Francisco, where the couple followed an audio-visual tour of Tut’s life, Gene Hardin thought of the idea of creating a tour that showcased the lives of abused children.
The original exhibit was created in a building in Stockton, but because of its success, the Child Abuse Prevention Council decided to rebuild the project as a mobile exhibit that can make stops through the state, and someday, through the country. The Visalia visit will run through the month of October.

Visitors are encouraged to go beyond the headlines and the statistics and visit the exhibit to experience the life of an abused child.

The Lisa Project is open from 5 to 9 p.m. Thursdays and Fridays, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Saturdays and from 1 to 5 p.m. Sundays from Oct. 1 to 29.

The mobile unit is located at 200 S. Court St. in Visalia. For more information, call 735-0456.Because of the nature of the exhibit, children younger than 13, are not allowed to listen to the audio track.

Contact Esther Avila at 784-5000, Ext. 1045 or eavila@portervillerecorder.com